Palmyra with the Pattons

After our trip into the city- we had one last place to visit- Palmyra, New York! Palmyra is located in the finger lakes region of upper New York State. It is important to us because there are some amazing things that happened in this area in the history of our church. This picture is in the restored family home of Joseph Smith.

Emery LOVED playing with Albany's hair. Albany was so sweet to all of her little cousins.

Kailey was able to spend some really fun time with her cousins!

We were able to walk through the most beautiful grove of trees in New York. It is such a peaceful place- even with our family in it! (Don't let Jake fool you- he had a great time, too.) Thanks for coming Pattons! We loved spending time with all of you.

New York, New York

We are enjoying the visit of the Pattons from Spring Creek, Nevada. Karen (my sister) and John have three amazing kids- Albany (recently graduated from H.S.), Colby (a very handsome 14 year old) and Logan (a super athletic 11 year old).

We have had a great time at West Point (USMA). I always feel patriotic here!

We had loads of fun in Hyde Park seeing the FDR Presidential Library and
playing kickball at the Vanderbilt Mansion.

Eating dinner at the Culinary Institute of America is always a treat.

Today we came to the big city. We took the train in and saw the Statue of Liberty (from afar) and then headed over to China Town.

We also spent some time in the subway.

After purchasing some lovely handbags- Karen, Albany and I saw "WICKED." It was fabulous! Meanwhile, John and Danny watched the other 8 children and spent time at FAO Schwarz and Central Park. We met up at the New York LDS Temple. What a wonderful place.

Then- Danny, John, Albany, Colby, Kailey, Logan and Jake went to the Mets/Phillies baseball game while Karen, Shelby, Claire, Emery, Madison and I got back on the train and came back home. (We missed one train by seconds so we had to wait for the next one...) It is so great to be able to visit NYC and it is equally wonderful to come home.

Mother's Day Pictures

Since Grandma Carrell was visiting for Mother's Day, we thought it was the perfect opportunity to get a nice picture of the kids. Were we able to accomplish our goal? Take a look...




Oh well, we will try again another day.

The Weekend in Amsterdam

Danny's mom and sisters came to visit- so we had them take a weekend adventure. They went to Amsterdam and had a wonderful time.

Jill, Danny and Dawn

You can't go to Holland without seeing windmills.

They took a bike tour.

Saw where clogs are made.

Enjoyed the tulips-

And had a wonderful weekend together.

The ROCK... of Gibraltar

Our last day trip on our Spanish vacation was to Gibraltar. Gibraltar has been a British Territory since 1713 (although now it is self governing). It is a peninsula (on the iberian peninsula) but is sometimes called an island. The strait of Gibraltar separates Europe from Africa and links the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea.

We're driving to Gibraltar- the van in front of us is the Halls van. We followed the Halls to Gibraltar and then walked around and toured with the.

An actual tourguide found us and was willing to take all of us with him. (6 adults and 11 children all in one van.)

Gibraltar has a lot of history that involves war. Here the kids are on an old cannon. (L - R: Claire, Kailey, Axelle, Emery, Jake, Abby, Hannah and Shelby)

St. Michaels cave was amazing. The stalactites and stalagmites and so incredible to look at. Part of this cave is huge. They still give concerts here. Claire, Jake, Shelby, Abby, and Hannah- with Sarah in back- doing their silly faces.

It is said that if the apes ever leave Gibralar, so will the British. The apes are really not afraid of anything. Jake looks very natual with the monkey on his head.

Emmm, Kailey, you have a monkey on your shoulder!

Shelby with an ape.

Madison thought her dad looked cute with a monkey on his shoulder.

Here are all of the Carrells and Halls. I love this picture- too bad some of us were cut off! (This is what happens when you hand someone your camera and ask them to take your picture.)

The Carrells- solid as the rock of Gibraltar!

Meet me in Morocco

While we were in Spain, we decided to go across the sea to the continent of Africa- to see a bit of Morocco. We took the super fast ferry (35 minutes) from Tarifa, Spain to Tangier, Morocco. It was a fun few hours- although we really didn't get to see much of Morocco. In fact, we heard Tangier compared to Tijuana- so take it for what it's worth...

The first stop was Camel Rides. Our trip was especially good, because we got to take Sweet Sarah with us! (Sarah actually lives with the Halls in Paris- but because she hadn't seen Morocco- we got to take her with us!) Sarah was very popular because she is so sweet and made all of our girls think they were super important. Emery adopted Sarah as her BFF and wouldn't let Sarah go anywhere without her. As you can see- she was thrilled to share the camel ride with Sarah.

I watched the camel rides from the comfort of the bus- Madison fell asleep, so I stayed in the bus with her. Shelby and Kailey had a fun ride on their camel.

Jake and Claire also enjoyed their jaunt on the camel. I don't know how comfortable it was- but definitely a great adventure! (You can see our bus in the background.)

Danny didn't want to miss out on the fun, and Emery and Shelby wanted another ride- so Danny shared his camel with them. (The camel had to work for that money!)

Part of our tour included lunch at a local restaurant. We enjoyed (well some of us) soup, bread, a lamb skewer, chicken and couscous and mint tea and a pastry for dessert. Here is Kailey with her skewer. She looks thrilled doesn't she?

Claire, Shelby, Jake, Emery and Sarah
Kailey kept asking what the mystery meat was on the stick. I wouldn't really give her a straight answer (because I knew what would happen) and encouraged her to try it. Her dad told her that it was lamb. (Danny didn't realize that he was correct.) Kailey had already tried it- but chose not to eat any more after that and told her siblings what it really was. You have to realize that I have never prepared lamb and so there is a bit of a stigma with my children. Sometimes the unknown is just more palatable...

We enjoyed seeing the spices and other natural remedies they showed us at the pharmacy, we saw lots of rugs and a few tablecloths (and didn't buy even one) and the kids were all able to get a moroccan trinket to take home.
Morocco was a very fun day trip! Thanks for coming with us, Sarah!

Espana El Magnifico!

We took the opportunity to visit "sunny" Spain during the kids' Easter break. It wasn't always sunny- but it was wonderful. We flew into Almeria and then drove to the Marriott Marbella Beach Hotel.

We had some fun day trips including a trip into the mountains to see the city of Ronda.

Ronda is considered the birthplace of bullfighting. It is a pretty town with a 100 meter chasm right in the center of town!

You can see Danny and the girls near the rock fence with the bridge that spans the chasm in back of them.

We met up with John and Renee Hall and their family. The Halls live in Paris, but we have known them since we (and they) were newlyweds. We planned this trip with them almost a year ago. The Halls almost weren't able to come to Spain as their sweet little boy Parker contracted Meningitis in February and has been very ill. However, we were so blessed to spend time with them. The kids all had fun together and we were able to renew our friendship and enjoy some great chats. John and Renee are absolutely incredible people whom we are privileged to call our friends. (Photo- L to R- Renee, Danny, Jake, Diane, Madi, Axelle, Abby, Shelby, Claire, Kailey, Hannah, Emery, Penelope, John and Parker is in the stroller)

Shelby and Claire with the bridge in the background. (They look just a tiny bit nervous.)

Our hotel was wonderful and we enjoyed a little picnic on one of the sunny days!

Danny and Jake took the opportunity of seeing a bullfight. They had a great time. (I did NOT want to go and did not encourage the girls to go either.)

The kids had a fun time searching for shells on the beach.

They enjoyed playing in the sand as well.

Madi even had fun being partially buried in the sand.

Jake showed off his muscles while he and Kailey soaked in the hot tub.
Spain was magnificent. We had a wonderful time and would definitely go again!